Battle-Hardened, War Weary Ch. 04

"Well..." sighed Kali, feeling extremely disappointed in the MTA's bus schedule. "This is my limo." She moved to stand in front of Kyle's large frame. She had to literally rest the back of her head on her back, in order to gaze at Kyle in his eyes. "Did I tell you how much I really enjoyed myself today?"

He stared down at her face. Kyle gave a smoldering chuckle. He grinned. "Yes, earlier today. It was in between our conversations about your cravings for pickles and nacho cheese and the story that I told you about the boil that was on my—

"Ah, yes, now I remember," she said to him. She giggled. "I can't believe that you told me a story about a hideous boil that was growing on your ass. It was disgusting, but it is a great story to tell, when you're on a date—

"So, today was a date?" inquired Kyle.

Kali noticed the brightness in his eyes. She saw the aura of hope in his irises. She smiled at him. "If there is a kiss involved, and then it is a date," she informed him.

The flesh on Kali's face tingled with excitement, when she felt his large hands cradle her. The skin on his fingers was rough, due to years of hard labor. But they felt wonderful against her. She could smell the fragrance of the anti-bacterial soap that he used on his hands while they were still in Pork Belly.

She stared up at his handsome face as it descended. She closed her eyes, when she could no longer stand the tension. Her body trembled with anticipation and excitement. She felt his lips touch at her forehead with a gentleness. A warm shiver rippled down her shoulders and down to her knees. Inexplicably, the kiss reminded her of sunshine, warmth, hope, care and security. The kiss was an unexpected surprise.

"I'll give you another one, when we go on our first official date," Kyle enlightened her. She opened her eyes and gazed at him.

"Okay."

Kyle grabbed a hold of the fluffy, ivory colored scarf that she wore around her neck. He arranged the scarf around her neck, so he was able to zip her coat further up her neck. "Can you please text my phone as soon as you arrive home?" he asked of her.

"Yes, I will. Can you do the same for me?"

"Yes," he grunted. "Now, go on Mama, go catch your bus before he pulls off."

****

'He gives me another reason as to why I shouldn't bitch about waking up on the mornings of my meetings,' she concluded, after thinking about the event from the day before.

Kali stepped on the porch of her 'Arts & Crafts, Victorian-styled' house. She stood by the top stair while she drew her cell phone from out of her coat pocket. She received a text from her best friend, Katrina. Her friend asked her if she returned home safely. Earlier on that day, the two women had met up for a brunch date and to spend the rest of the afternoon shopping. During their meals, Kali had told her friend about the outing that she shared with Kyle Oliver. She watched her best friend's face light up with joy, once she told her about the kiss and his promise of taking her out on a date. Kali could tell that Katrina was happy that she had met a man like Kyle.

She turned away from the staircase and strolled over to the screen door. Her porch's security lights shone as she approached the thin door. The lights were a part of the high-tech, security system that was a part of her house. She pulled the screen door open and an object had landed on her boot-clad feet. She saw the object was a box. It was a Fed-Ex shipping box. She knew the identity of the sender immediately.

"Mama," she sighed, as she bent over to pick up the package. She shook the package, in hopes of determining what was inside of the box. Nothing shook or rattled inside of the box while she did her observation, so she assumed that her grandmother had sent her baby clothes.

In March, Kali informed her grandmother, Mare, of her pregnancy. She expected for her grandmother to be shock as well as disappointed in knowing that her granddaughter was going to be a single parent. But, she was surprised to learn that her grandmother was ecstatic. The woman was so happy that she actually made the excursion from Montgomery, Georgia to New York City, in her 1998 Acura. She arrived to Kali's residence, two days later. The older Richardson woman was in the kitchen, cooking up a breakfast that was fit for the entire neighborhood. She gave her granddaughter a fright and then a delightful surprise on that morning.

Since that surprise, Mama Richardson has returned home, but now she sends care packages to Kali, via Fed-Ex. Majority of the gifts are for the baby, but every once in a while, Kali would receive a gift from her grandmother.

Once she entered the foyer of her house, Kali placed the package on the small table that was positioned next to the front door. She placed her shopping bags on the floor. She closed her front door and secured the locks. Then she walked over to the console that was mounted on the wall, behind the door, to activate the security system. She stripped off her coat, hat, mittens and scarf off of her body and hung them up in the coat closet.

From the foyer, she entered the living room. She turned on the floor lamp that was next to the sofa and then powered on her television. She peeled off her boots because her feet were aching and then she trekked into the dining room to get to the kitchen. She was hungry.

Once in the kitchen, she searched her freezer for a bag of frozen chicken parts. She was in the mood for some fried chicken and mashed sweet potatoes. She found the frozen chicken and proceeded to thaw the meat out in a pot of scalding hot water. She traveled to her pantry closet and procured a can of mashed sweet potatoes, as well as, a bag of marshmallows and a bag of chopped walnuts. She placed the items on the island countertop.

'The chicken is not even thawed out yet. I might as well take my bath,' she silently concluded.

She traveled back to the living room, grabbed a hold of her boots and her other belongings. Then she had gone up to the second level of the house. Inside of her bedroom, she stripped out of her clothes and underwear. In all of her naked glory, she walked out of her bedroom and traveled to the bathroom.

Once her tub was filled with enough suds and water, Kali submerged her pregnant body in its soapy, liquid goodness. "Aaaah..." she sighed loudly as she reclined against the back of the tub. She allowed her body to acclimate to the water before she proceeded to clean herself. Once finished, she had gone back to relaxing. It was in the midst of her relaxing, when she felt a series of fluttering inside of her womb. Kali opened her violet eyes and stared at her protruding belly. She witnessed her belly tremble and watched how her flesh made hills and dips. Her hand did an appreciative swipe across her stomach.

"Hello Baby Girl," she said out loud. "I felt you moving again this morning!" There was more movement. She thought that her child was responding to her voice. She laughed from joy. There was an abrupt rumble, a sign of her hunger. Her unborn daughter stilled her movements. "I'm sorry that you had to experience it. Your mama is starving right now." There was more fluttering. Kali considered the moving as a way of her baby saying that the apology was accepted.

After spending an hour lounging in her tub, Kali dressed in a long meshed, bathrobe and returned to the kitchen. She was capable of cooking herself the desired meal that she wanted. Soon, the meal was created, the dishes were cleaned and she was ready to eat. She entered the living room and placed her food along with her beverage on the coffee table. She was about to sit down on her sofa, when the living room

was suddenly filled with her doorbell's ringing.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," she muttered.

She straightened up and glanced at the entryway to the foyer. There was another call from the visitor who stood on the other side of her front door. "I'll be there, just give me some time!" she shouted. She walked away from the couch and traveled to the foyer's entrance. As she entered the foyer, she realizes that her gait has entered the 'pregnant woman's waddle' territory. She giggles from the enlightenment that she was dealt.

Kali made it to the front door. Again, there was a doorbell chiming. "I am a fat, pregnant woman! I cannot run to the door! Hang on!" she shouted into the large, wooden door. She took a glimpse to her right and she saw the Fed-Ex box.

'Oh yeah, I have to open that later.'

Kali unlocked the fastenings on her door. She then shut off her alarm system. The system was programmed to emit a silent signal to the security company, if the front door was opened while the alarm system was still on. Once she figured out that the alarm was powered off, she turned her attention back to the front door. She pulled the door open. Her eyes took in the sight of the visitor. Her eyes widened from shocked. Her opened mouth let out a sigh. Her heart felt like it was going to break out of her chest.

The person took a step inside of the foyer while Kali made six steps backwards. Her eyes were locked on the interloper as she made her movement. He walked towards her. She preferred to have space between them, so she walked backwards. She heard his laughter. He thought that her attempts of staying away from him was humorous. He managed to make Kali walk into the living room. Once inside the brightly-lit room, she saw him clearly.

Kali thought he appeared different. He looked as if he added extra weight on his body. Now, he looked more like a football player than the swimmer that she always thought. With the black, baggy sweat suit, she thought he looked foreboding. She watched his green eyes scan her body and then settled on her stomach.

'It's been three months since I've seen him. I thought he was finally gone,' she mentally sighed.

"Ryan..."

****

Nine hours and eight minutes ago...

"What's up Penny? You have to make this quick. I have the meeting to go to."

"I know, Boss, but you have a phone call from Mister Valentine. He said that he is calling you with a progress report" informed Penny. "I figure that this was too important for you to go to your voice mail."

'Mister Valentine, you definitely need to get a bonus after this thing is done.'

"You are absolutely right, Pen. Patch his call through" instructed Ryan. The call was disconnected and there was a clicking noise.

"Good morning, Mr. Whittler" said the caller.

"Good morning, Mr. Valentine! What do you have for me?"

Ryan heard the private investigator chuckle. "Good morning, Mr. Whittler. How are you doing on this fine morning?" said the detective inquired.

Ryan detected the dig that the private investigator had made about his manners. He rolled his eyes in annoyance. His impulse was to cut the man down a few notches. He chose to stamp down that urge. "I am fine, Mr. Valentine. How are you?"

"I am doing well. And to answer your question, yes, I do have a progress report. I would like to meet you to discuss it," Mr. Valentine suggested.

"I cannot meet you today, unfortunately," reported Ryan. "I am swamped with meetings and I can't meet up after work either."

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Whittler. I can send you everything, via bike messenger. I can have the package at your office before three o' clock today," stated Mr. Valentine.

'Yes!' Ryan mentally cheered, as adrenaline and excitement surged through his veins.

"Thank you, Mr. Valentine, I deeply appreciate it."

"You're welcome, Mr. Whittler."

Then, a moment of silence had occurred between the two callers. For Ryan, the moment felt awkward and embarrassing, ever since he spent that multi-second space trying to gather the courage to ask his next question.

"I have a question for you," Ryan stated into the phone. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva that coated the inside of his mouth. Then, he let out a gust of air from his mouth. "How does she look?"

"What do you mean?" inquired the detective.

"I mean, how..." Ryan made a difficult swallow. He was embarrassed. He felt weak for exposing his sense of concern. "How does she look? Does she appear to be in good health? Does she look sick or—

"Oh, I know what you mean now," the other man stated into the phone. "She looks to be in good health, Sir. She looks great and I am sure that she will continue to look beautiful, when she is further along in her pregnancy..."

Ryan felt his body go into a transformation, at the mentioning of pregnancy. A ripple of an unknown energy burst inside of his brain and then traveled down to his toes. The energy left his body feeling cold. His skin also felt numb. His throat felt like it was closing up. Or as if there was a giant fist being shoved down the narrow cavity. He had difficulty breathing. His heart was beating fast and hard.

'Oh God,' he moaned silently.

Ryan's jade eyes darted over to the doorway to his office. His grandfather stood in the threshold. He was yelling out Ryan, but his grandson couldn't hear him. It is as if every bit of sound was muted.

However, Ryan could hear Mr. Valentine, the private detective that he hired. The man was still speaking to him. "... I have a wife who is expecting our fourth child..."

The only thing that he could think of was one statement. 'Oh my God, she is pregnant.'

****

Once the shock had worn off, Ryan was able to end the phone call with Mr. Valentine. He managed to compose himself. He was able to attend the meeting. The meeting lasted almost two hours. He didn't bother to pay attention to any of his co-workers. He was busy stuck in his head. He was thinking about Kali. He was wondering about her health. Then there were the thoughts about his unborn child. Ryan knew that she was carrying a child that he helped create. He thought about his child's gender. He had daydreams about interacting with his child. He imagined cradling his imaginary infant daughter in his arms. He thought about taking his imaginary toddler son on a stroll in Central Park. He daydreamed about Kali and him sitting on a couch, in their living room and they were watching their daughter rehearse a dance routine. He thinks about teaching his son the art of calligraphy, during a portion of the meeting.

Suddenly, the image of his hypothetical son was replaced with a figment of a child version of himself. Then his daydream was forced into a series of childhood memories.

In the format of projection images, there were memories of his father on display. There were memories of his father holding his hand while they walked down a sand bar, when he was five years old. There was the image of his father entering the foyer of the Whittler Manor while a six year-old Ryan sat on a step. There were images of Ryan running up to his dad while shouted in joy. The memory of his dad lying in bed with a four year-old Ryan as his dad read a passage from "Charlotte's Web". There was a mental image of his father cooking pancakes and oatmeal at a stove while a two year-old Ryan sat in his highchair.

Inside of his memory banks, he forced himself to journey into undesired territory. The memories had gone from being cheerful in mood to sad and depressing. There were memories of his grandfather verbally denigrating Ryan's father while the entire family sat at the dinner table. There was a memory of his mother pushing at her husband after he made an attempt of showing affection, as a seven year-old Ryan stood in the doorway. There was a clip of Ryan sitting on the edge of his grandmother's bed. His grandmother was lying in her bed. She was sick with ovarian cancer.

His final recollection was the memory of when he was transported from the Richardson household to his grandfather's car. He was staring out of the back window of the car. He saw Junior and Keith stand by the curb. They stared at him with morose expressions. He remembered the memory of watching Kali exit the house and proceeded to chase his grandfather's car as it drove down the streets of Saint Albans. He recalled hearing his grandfather telling his friend that he should stop the car and put it in reverse, in a joking manner.

At this point, Ryan thought that his weakness was going to be on display. His vulnerability was going to be showcased and it will capture the attention of all of these millionaires better than the weak Power Point presentation. Ryan politely excused himself from the board room and left the room. He felt his grandfather's eyes on him as he left the room.

'Fuck him,' he mentally growled.

Ryan traveled to the nearest men's restroom. He had used the sink to wash his face. Afterwards, he gazed into the mirror that was above the sinks. His green orbs stared deep into the ones that were in the mirror. Staring at his eyes, he no longer saw the eyes of an powerful man that was in control. He saw a pussy. He had to come to grips with his emotional state. Ever since he had the conversation with Ignatius, back in December, he has been dealing with his emotions and other issues.

"Get your shit together," he said to himself.

By the time 12:38 PM rolled around, Ryan was back in his office. He was prepared to leave. He needed to meet the Fukui family at 1:00 PM. He left the building by 12:42 and he caught a cab to the restaurant. He made it to the restaurant on time. When he arrived at Knives & Dishes Restaurant, the clients were already seated at a table. The time was 12:50 PM.

Unlike his first meeting, the Fukui meeting was fun. The business, which consisted of five brothers, didn't want to discuss business. Instead the family and Ryan seem to have discussed everything that wasn't business-related. It was during a topic about their families that Ryan blurted out his impending fatherhood. The Fukui's clapped and gave him congratulations. Then, they proceeded to give Ryan tips about being a father, a provider and a husband.

Ryan returned to his office at 2:10 PM. He returned with a gift for Penny, a doggy bag from Knives and Dishes, which consists of stuffed shrimp, rice pilaf in garlic butter sauce and a dessert of tiramisu cake. She squealed in delight and thanked him profusely. She informed her boss that a package was delivered for him by a messenger and it was on his desk. Ryan thanked Penny and walked away from her desk with a casual stroll, when all he wanted to do was run to his office.

Once he entered his work quarters, he saw a manila envelope on his desk. He locked his office door and then ran over to his desk. He tossed his briefcase onto his chair and sat on the edge of his desk. He snatched the envelope off of his desktop. With the finesse of an excited kid on Christmas morning, he ripped into the envelope. He dumped the contents onto his desk. A pile of photographs had landed on the desk in a messy manner. His hands sought after the photos. He placed the pictures in an order. He proceeded to go through the photos.

The first photograph was a picture of Kali. She was leaving her house. The photographer snapped the shot while she was in mid-stride. She was wearing a thick, coat and he couldn't see her stomach.

'I want to see her stomach. I wonder if there is a picture of the pregnancy.'

The urge to see a picture of a pregnant Kali was strong. He quickly and clumsily perused the stack of photos to find at least one. He was lucky enough to come across six photos of her. He tossed the other pictures aside and ogled at the desired ones.

The first picture of a pregnant Kali was a photo in which she was standing at a bus stop. She was standing on a line. The photographer managed to capture her standing sideways, so her stomach was revealed. Ryan's fingertips traced the curve that her swollen stomach made. 'My baby,' he reflected.

In the picture, she wore a maternity coat that was a pea coat; it was navy in color with gold buttons. She wore a light blue, knitted cap on her head. Her dark, curly hair was sticking out of the bottom of the cap. He noticed that her hair had grown longer since the last time he had seen her. There were light blue mittens on her hands. He thought she looked cute in the picture.